How Much Money The Largest UK Companies Make per Second

BP Plc is a global petrochemical company with its headquarters in London, England and operations in 79 countries. One of the largest deliverers of energy products, it produces around 2.2 million barrels of oil a day and employs 70,000 people.

In 2019 it reported a revenue of £220 billion ranking it the 4th largest company in the oil and gas industry.

Launched in 1909 as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the company was formerly named British Petroleum. Brands within BP plc include Castrol, Aral and Amoco.

Prudential Plc is a worldwide provider of life assurance, retirement services and Finance. With more than 20 million customers globally, it operates in the UK, Asia, Africa and the USA.

It’s a British company that was founded in 1848 originally to provide loans to local businesses. With their headquarters in London, England, Prudential Plc is listed as a FTSE 100 company on the London Stock Exchange.

Their 2019 revenue topped £74 billion and they employ around 23,000 workers.

Aviva provides investment and retirement products and is the largest general insurer in the UK. With its headquarters in London, England, this British company was an amalgamation of Norwich Union and CGU formed in 2000. Aviva is a multinational business with operations in 16 different countries focussing on Asia, Canada and Europe.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange as one of the FTSE 100 companies, an annual revenue of £70 billion was reported in 2019. There are around 31,700 employees globally.

Legal and General Group was founded in 1836 in London, England where it still retains its headquarters. The company provides asset management services, mortgages, retirement products and insurances. It’s also the 10th biggest investment management provider in the world.

In 2019, the reported annual revenue was £66 billion.

In 2020 the brand partnered with Edinburgh University to fund a 7-year research project into life expectancy.

Legal and General employ approximately 8,500 members of staff.

Tesco is the UK’s largest supermarket with operations in the UK, ROI, eastern Europe and Asia. Tesco Bank and Booker Cash and Carry are also part of the brand. It is headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England.

The business first began as a market stall in London in 1919, and has grown into a multinational concern with a revenue of £56.5 billion in 2019. The supermarket offers online grocery shopping in the UK with same-day delivery options.

With around 3,200 stores around the world, there are over 400,000 employees working for Tesco.

HSBC Holdings is a worldwide retail bank that offers Finance and wealth management. With its headquarters in London, it employs approximately 235,000 workers globally.

The reported 2019 revenue was £53.3 billion.

The bank was founded in 1865 in Hong Kong to enable easy financial trading between Europe and Asia. Today, the company states that more than 40 million people use HSBC worldwide. The initialled name of the bank comes from the original Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company title.

Lloyds Banking Group is the UK’s largest retail banking group.

It has a long history, and was first founded as a single bank in 1765 in Birmingham, England. Over the centuries, it has taken over and amalgamated with several institutions and today the group is made up of Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, MBNA and Scottish Widows. With a well-known black horse as its logo, the brand offers Finance for public and commercial customers.

The group’s 2019 revenue was recorded as £17.1 billion.

Vodafone made its first mobile phone call in London in 1985, and today it is a mobile communications business in 26 countries. With 625 million mobile customers globally, it has a strong presence in Europe, Africa and India.

The company is registered in Newbury, England with its headquarters in London.

In 2019, the reported revenue for the group was £39 billion. In the UK, Vodafone employs around 10,000 members of staff across the country. They have around 115 retail cell phone stores.

Rio Tinto is the second largest mining and metals company in the world. It’s a British-Australian venture founded in 1873 when a British-European company bought mines in Spain on the edge of the Rio Tinto river.

Today, there are two HQ’s one is in London, England and the other in Melbourne, Australia. Iron ore, copper, aluminium and diamonds are mined, smelted and refined in 36 different countries by Rio Tinto Plc.

The 2019 revenue was £34.2 billion and the group employs approximately 47,000 people globally.

GlaxoSmithKline is a British pharmaceutical company with several headquarters that can be found in Brentford England, California USA, Philadelphia USA and Singapore.

They research, develop and manufacture vaccines and medicines with new products being introduced regularly. Prescription drugs and over-the-counter healthcare products such as toothpaste and pain relief make up a large share of their business.

Beginning with just a single chemist shop in London in 1715, the business now employs 100,000 people around the world.

The global revenue for 2019 was reported as £34.1 billion.

With its headquarters in Bristol, England, Imperial Brands is the 4th largest cigarette company in the world.

Tobacco, papers, cigarettes and cigars are its core business. Producing 320 billion cigarettes annually, the subsidiary companies include Golden Virginia, Winston, John Players, Rizla, Davidoff and Gauloises plus many others.

Founded in 1901 it has an annual revenue of £30.5 billion with 33,300 employees and 51 factories worldwide. It is listed as a FTSE 100 company.

J Sainsbury plc is made up of Sainsbury’s Supermarket, Sainsbury’s Argos and Sainsbury’s Bank.

The supermarket is the UK’s 2nd largest grocery chain. It was established in 1869 by James Sainsbury in London. Today it has 1400 stores around the UK and an online business selling groceries and retail goods.

There is also a clothing brand named Tu with menswear, children’s wear and ladieswear lines.

J Sainsbury is a large employer with around 116,000 workers. The revenue for 2019 was £29 billion.

Centrica is a FTSE 250 listed company with its headquarters in Windsor, England.

Businesses under the Centrica name include British Gas, Centrica Hive, Dynarod and Bord Gais Energy. Its primary business is to supply electric and gas to customers across the UK, Ireland, Canada and the USA.

This utilities company reported a revenue of £29.6 billion in 2019. Almost 30,000 people work for Centrica across 14 locations.

Compass Group serves approximately 5.5 billion meals per annum to schools, offices, correctional institutions, hospitals and major events.

There is an operation in 45 different countries all over the globe. The company headquarters are in Chertsey, England.

Founded in 1941 it was originally called Factory Canteens Ltd, and was floated on the stock exchange in 1988.

In 2019, the annual revenue was £24.8 billion with a staff of nearly 600,000 employees.

BT Group plc was formerly known as British Telecom. It’s a telecommunication business with its headquarters in London, England who operates in 180 different companies.

Currently, BT provides the majority of fixed-line and broadband services in all areas of the UK.

Incorporated in 1846, it lead the way when it came to communication networks.

In 2019, the revenue was £23.4 billion. Around 104,000 people are employed by the BT Group in total, 93,000 of which are based in the UK.